Would Tebowmania be bigger if Tebow was Asian? Facts: (1) America loves an underdog story, and (2) Lin's underdog status is impossible to separate from his Asian-ness. A black kid with his skillset and credentials coming out of high school would have received multiple offers from major D-1 schools and would have been drafted. It's only because Lin doesn't fit our preconceived notions of what a good basketball player should look like that he's in the position he's in.

(2) Lin's underdog status is impossible to separate from his Asian-ness. A black kid with his skillset and credentials coming out of high school would have received multiple offers from major D-1 schools and would have been drafted. It's only because Lin doesn't fit our preconceived notions of what a good basketball player should look like that he's in the position he's in.

True to some degree, but nobody saw this coming. Not because he's Asian, but because he's never done this before.

From Hollinger:

"Anyone who says they saw this coming is lying. Lin's past five games were not, contrary to what you may have been led to believe, his first shot in professional basketball. A year ago, he played 29 games for the Golden State Warriors and shot 38.9 percent, averaging 2.6 points per game.

And in 20 more games of professional basketball for Reno in the D-League, he averaged 18 points and 4.3 assists. In other words, against minor leaguers a year ago he put up numbers that pale beside those he registered against NBA players over the past five games."

I hope Melo sandbags the team so they're forced to deal him. Please god let this happen.

I am also hoping for this as well. To show everyone what he DOESN'T bring to the team.

It's funny listening to these sports analysts question whether or not Amare will be able to play well with Lin.... Hello.....He played with Nash for years perfecting the pick-n-roll....under Mike D'Antoni no less!

I am also hoping for this as well. To show everyone what he DOESN'T bring to the team.
It's funny listening to these sports analysts question whether or not Amare will be able to play well with Lin.... Hello.....He played with Nash for years perfecting the pick-n-roll....under Mike D'Antoni no less!

^^ but tyson chandler clogs the lane if amare tries to drop after the pick.

the suns didn't run pick and roll using amare+nash+another big man successfully - I remember shaq just clogging the lane whenever STAT would drop... to the point that shaq became a black hole/road block during his suns years.

what they could do is have chandler stand near the rim on the baseline and have amare reverse the pick and roll where he pops out and waits for a dump off pass then slashes, or pops out and shoots the 15-18ft jumper. Lin still has the option of slashing.

the sad/obvious part is how Melo has no part of this equation being successful what so ever.

these are good points - his left hand is fairly useless. he also doesn't seem to have much explosiveness. everyone from now on is going to force him left.
in fairness though, there's some good things to see here. he always seems to catch people off guard with that first step (which doesn't look particularly quick but very well timed), and with that hesitation dribble/drive. he's very crafty with his layups and dips the ball and protects it with his body (but of course people will start noticing that tendency and sending that shit into section 112), and he knows how to find the open man.
so let's see how he does. he definitely has some skills but i have a feeling he's just catching people off guard at the moment.

But you can learn to go left pretty quickly. Hell, I'm a thirty-five year old mediocre pickup player and actually go left now a lot more than I go right. I consciously set out to do so around age 25 and was virtually ambidextrous (at least on lay-ups) by 26 or 27. Now imagine if I'd been younger, more coordinated, more athletic, and got to practice three or four hours a day.

The defense though.....that's a problem. He needs to work harder at that, especially in the film room.